When the Snake left the Lion
by writergal24
Summary: It's generally accepted that Rose and Scorpius fall in love. It's also generally accepted that the Weasley family eventually gets over this. But what if they never did, and then Scorpius died, leaving Rose alone? Rated T for swearing. Oneshot.


**This is not one of those cute, funny fics. This is kind of intense. And I kind of love it. If you need more of an explanation, be sure to check out the A/N at the bottom of the page when you are done. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Or Rose Weasley. And, damnit, I don't own Scorpius Malfoy :( I'm just an American teenage girl which means that I don't get paid for this and I sometimes use American expressions. I also have to stare expectantly at the Pottermore page "whilst they try to connect me."**

Perhaps some of his family would show up.

Wait, no, when was the last time he'd had contact with them? Ten years ago, most likely, other than that time some uncle sent him a Howler.

Well, then perhaps some of his friends.

What friends? All of his friends from his Hogwarts were either in Azkaban or had given up contact with him around the same time his parents had. And we hadn't made very many friends in the past couple years.

And his colleagues? They didn't really work _with _him. More like _for _him. And something told me that he wasn't the best boss. He rarely discussed any of his employees, and I'd never met any of them. I'd never even been to his office.

There was no way that my family would show up. I'd tried several times to reconcile with them, but I'd received no response. They treated me like a disease.

My friends were gone too, and I didn't work.

So it looked like it would be me, the kids, and the neighbors. He would have been so disappointed.

_Damn it, Scorpius. I gave up _everything_ for you. Why'd you have to go and die?_

I'd felt angry at my husband a lot lately, even though I knew that it wasn't his fault. But if he'd just stayed home that day and hadn't gone to work. If he'd gotten on an earlier train.

It seemed like such a Muggle way to die – in a train crash. But Scorpius had been in the front of the train and before he'd even realized that there was another train coming towards him, it'd hit. It seemed like such a Muggle way to die… but, then again, we'd adapted the lives of Muggles the past ten years. The Wizarding world had shunned us, both the Dark side and the Light side.

I brushed my daughter's hair one more time. _I didn't want to go to this Goddamn funeral._ "There," I said, turning her around to look at me. She looked so much like him, blond hair, pointed chin. _I didn't want to see the remains they'd scraped. _She smiled at me. She still thought her father was coming home. _And Merlin's beard, I did _not _want to make my children suffer through this._

"Do I look pretty, Mommy?"

My heart cracked. Again. I didn't even want to count the number of pieces my heart was in anymore. "You look beautiful, Arabella. Now, go get Archer, and we'll go, okay?"

Arabella toddled out of the room. I followed, feeling melancholy and sluggish. I couldn't stand to look in the corner of the room where her bed was, the bed that we'd struggled to assemble manually for hours before we'd finally decided to use magic.

_The memories. The memories. The memories._

When I'd made it downstairs, I threw a couple of things in my purse and found my car keys. Oh, what Grandpa Weasley would say if he knew that I drove my children to school in a car every morning and had never gotten in an accident.

Arabella skipped down the stairs. I almost wish that Archer could have shared her joy and naivetés.

Archer had spent most of the three days since we'd found out about Scorpius' death in his room, that was, after he'd blown up the television accidentally. I'd considered sending him to school, but when I thought about the possibility of him doing accidental magic in front of the Muggles in his class… oh, that would be bad. Archer was nine. He was four years older than his sister. Technically, Archer was supposed to start Hogwarts in two years. Scorpius and I had still been deliberating what we'd do when the letter came, if it ever did come.

Archer looked exactly like Scorp too, except that his hair had a tinge of red to it and was longer. He refused to get a haircut.

Archer was not taking all of this very well.

"Where's your tie, honey?" I asked.

"I don't want to wear a tie," he mumbled.

I sighed. "You have to. Go get one. I'll tie it for you."

Five minutes later, we finally made it out the door and we climbed into the car.

It was still a little weird for me sometimes. Climbing into a car like I'd grown up doing it. The fact that my children were so accustomed to it was weird too. Their father was a pure-blood wizard, yet they acted like Muggles. This had always bothered Scorpius so much.

When we got to the church, I straightened my black dress, and pulled my children out of the car and inside. Surprise, surprise, the church was rather empty except for an elderly couple that lived down the street from me.

_We gave up everything to be together. Who do I turn to now?_

I was crying by the time we sat down in the front pew. What was I supposed to do now? I had nobody except for my children. No family, no friends. I had no job. I had no life. It was always Rose and Scorpius, Scorpius and Rose. How could I, Rose, survive without him?

I sobbed through the entire service. I knew I should have been brave for my children, but I couldn't help it. I'd held back the tears for the most part until this point. Archer was crying, trying to be discreet about it because a couple of his friends from school had shown up with their parents. Arabella was crying, though I'm not sure she'd realized why yet. I just sat, holding Archer's hand with one of mine and holding Arabella with the other.

Through my tears, I was slightly aware that the mass had ended and that the priest was talking to me, but I couldn't distinguish words. I couldn't see his face. All I knew was that my husband was lying still and cold in this room and he would never talk to me again, never call me his Rosie, never kiss me.

And then I heard a voice. A voice that I never thought I would hear again. A voice that said, rather gruffly, "Rose."

I wiped the tears from my eyes, sure that my ears were deceiving me, and I adjusted Arabella so that she was sitting correctly.

And I looked up.

Sure enough, there, right there, standing in front of me, was Albus Severus Potter.

"_That bitch," Scorpius complained as I tried to mend his broken hand._

"_He's my cousin," I pointed out. Both of us realized how there was a distinct lack of anger in my voice, but neither commented on it._

"_He's still a bitch."_

_Should I slap him? Should I slap Albus?_

_But, no, I did neither. I just replied, "So are you."_

_As though this was funny, we both laughed._

I put Arabella down on the seat next to me and stood up quickly. I tried to muster up some anger, but there was nothing in me. My "Merlin's beard, what do you think you're doing here?" came out rather blandly.

He ignored my question. "Teddy and Vicky are here too." He pointed towards the back row. "Come and say hi."

It was a command. I couldn't say no. Nor did I really want to say no.

"Come on, kids," I said, and Arabella latched onto one of my hands. Archer stood up reluctantly.

Albus' eyes widened as though he'd just noticed my children. Still, he said nothing.

We walked silently to the back of the row where three people sat – a man, a woman, and a small child.

Teddy, for his part, had decided against his bright blue hair for the day. I appreciated this. Less suspicions for the Muggles. His hair was a light brown and there was a small, sad smile tugging the corners of his lips. He looked like his father. Not that I'd ever met his father, but Uncle Harry had shown us all pictures and that smile… that was Remus Lupin's.

Victoire had grown more than ten years older since the last time I saw her, but you wouldn't think it from the look of her. Her long blonde hair still fell in a sheet. Her face was devoid of wrinkles. Maybe the Veela in her was small, but it was still there and it wasn't doing her any harm.

The small boy sleeping in her arms was even younger than Arabella. His hair was red. Not red like mine though. Like fire-engine red. That was definitely getting some stares. But he was adorable.

We all looked at each other for a moment and then Victoire, thank Dumbledore, decided it was time to break the silence. "Rose," she said quietly. She paused then, trying to find something else to say to me. "This is Harry," she finally announced, settling for holding up her son for me to see.

I half-smiled at the name. "Harry," I repeated. "He's a Metamorphmagus."

"So is Gabrielle," Victoire told me, smiling.

"Gabrielle?" I repeated.

Victoire's smile faltered. "I'm not sure you ever met her. She's in her first year of Hogwarts."

No, I wouldn't have. She'd been born at the beginning of my 7th year of Hogwarts. I hadn't gone home for holidays that year, and I never went home after graduation. But, now that I thought about it, I did remember hearing about her birth.

"And what about Remus?" I asked, referring to their other son, whom I had met.

"He's not a Metamorphmagus. He's at Hogwarts, too. It's his third year."

I nodded. "This is Archer and Arabella," I introduced.

I swear I saw Albus' mouth twitch, but I was glad that he kept whatever Malfoy-degrading comment he was thinking of to himself.

"Archer's nine, and Arabella's five," I continued.

"They're adorable," Teddy said, finally speaking, but there was no emotion behind his words. And, Merlin, that bothered me so much. Why did that irk me? I hadn't spoken to Teddy in years. Why did I suddenly expect him to come running back to me with open arms? Why did I want him to tell me that it wasn't my fault? _Why did I care most about his opinion, not my father's or mother's or Albus, who had been my "best friend" when we were little?_

But I knew the answer. Teddy had always been my role model. When I was just a little girl, he was off at Hogwarts, having adventures. When I was anxious to enter Hogwarts, he was Head Boy and he got amazing grades, and I wanted to be Head Girl some day and get perfect grades. I wanted to be as perfect as Teddy. Plus, he could change his appearance, and I'd been impressed by that since the day I was born.

And now he was disappointed in me.

Nothing stung more than that.

"Archer, Arabella," I said, staring at Teddy, "These are my cousins, Teddy, Victoire, and Albus. Why don't you two stay with Victoire and Harry? Teddy, Albus, and I are going to for a little walk, okay?"

Victoire looked a little disappointed, but I think she understood. The two of us had been close, but nowhere near as close as I'd been to the other two. So she engaged my children in a conversation about Hogwarts and they sat down, though a little confused about what was going on. They'd never known any of their cousins. As we walked out of the church, I heard Archer announce to Victoire that he wanted to be in Ravenclaw and that if he wasn't, he'd be extremely disappointed. I saw Teddy and Albus' eyebrows raise. _A Malfoy in Ravenclaw_? They were probably thinking. But though neither Scorpius nor I had been in Ravenclaw, Archer was determined to end up there.

The three of us walked outside to the parking lot which was empty except for my car. I sat down on the bench outside of the church.

They stood next to the bench awkwardly.

"Well, have you come to yell at me?" I asked finally.

"No," Teddy said quickly.

"To say that you told me so?"

"No," he said again.

"To laugh at me?"

"No, Rose," Teddy said loudly and he sat down next to me. "We came here because we'd be really shitty cousins if we didn't come."

I laughed hardly. "And _now_ you're concerned about being shitty cousins."

"Rose, you made it perfectly clear that you didn't need us before. We wanted to see if you needed us now. If you tell us to leave, we'll be gone before you can say Stupefy," he told me quietly.

I rolled my eyes. "Suggesting that I'd like to stun you?"

"God, Rose, can you stop turning everything he says into an attack?" Albus growled. "We're _trying _to fix this."

"Yeah, well, I tried to fix this 10 years ago. And then 9 years ago. And 7. Then I gave up. I figured, if you didn't want to see me, I'd just ignore you the same way you ignored me," I snapped.

"What did you see in him, Rose?" Albus blurted out.

And there was the question. The question he'd been dying to ask for years, I knew. He'd come close to asking it in our 7th year of Hogwarts, or, as I liked to refer to it, The Year that Everything Fell Apart.

What did I see in the boy that drove my entire family away?

What did I see in the boy whose father had despised my father and jinxed my uncle and called my mum a Mudblood repeatedly?

What did I see in the boy who attacked my cousins during Quidditch games, fights in the hallway, meals, and even class?

What did I see in the boy who had put me in the Hospital Wing in 2nd year when I'd tried to help Albus out?

What did I see in this boy who despised my family so much that they couldn't be in the same room without starting an argument?

And why had I given up _everything _for him?

"I couldn't live without him," I said simply. When Albus opened his mouth to protest, I interrupted him. "No, it's not bullshit. It's the truth, Albus. I _tried_. Don't you remember? After Christmas holidays? We stopped seeing each other for a month. Both of us were depressed for the entire month. We failed all of our classes, we ignored our friends, and we couldn't stay on a broomstick for more than five minutes without losing our balance. It was horrible! You wanted me to live like that forever?"

"Wouldn't it have been better than living without us?"

I shook my head. "Obviously you've never been in love the same way. It _consumes_ you. It was as though I was addicted to Scorpius." Both men winced at the name and my eyes filled with tears. "I _couldn't _stay away from him."

Teddy was staring at me curiously.

"I'm married," Albus stated.

"Could you leave her?"

"If it was between her and my family, yes, I probably could. It would suck, but I probably could," Albus said, shrugging.

"But I _couldn't_."

Albus smirked. "Because you're insane. Fred's been saying it for years."

"Oh, shut up. Don't make me take out my wand."

Teddy finally spoke up. "If anyone draws their wand, we're leaving right away. We're here to make things better, not worse."

I turned on him. "And what about you and Victoire? If it was between us and her, who would you pick?"

Teddy stared at the ground for a long moment. "I couldn't. I'd probably kill myself rather than pick one side."

I laughed coldly. "Because that would make everyone feel so much better."

Half a smile rose on Teddy's face. "It would make me feel better."

"You'd pick Vicky over me, Ted?" Albus questioned. Albus and Teddy were practically like brothers. Teddy pretty much lived at Albus' house.

"Yeah, I might Albus, especially if you were acting like a git like you are now. Being married means that you're supposed to choose them over everybody and everything," he pointed out.

Albus was silent for a long moment. "Well, besides for that, he was evil. Do you remember when…"

"I remember all of the horrible things Scorpius did to you, Albus. You don't need to remind me," I said coolly.

"How could you love him when he did all of that?" he demanded.

"I did some pretty horrible things too, Albus. And so did you."

"Not as bad as him," Albus protested.

I shook my head. "For Merlin's sake, Albus, you can say his name. It's not like it's Tabooed or something!"

Both of their eyes darkened at my mention of Voldemort. Voldemort wasn't really a topic that was thrown around freely in the Potter/Weasley/Lupin households. I'd forgotten that.

"Fine. _Scorpius_ was an evil git. Happy?"

I sneered at him. "Very."

"This isn't why we came here, Albus," Teddy reminded him.

"Then why did you come here?" I demanded. "To get over all of the fights between us? That can't happen unless we reach some sort of agreement."

"Or we can just forgive and forget?" Teddy suggested hopefully.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "And you're ready to forgive me completely?"

"I'll try," Teddy said.

"Well, I don't know if I can forgive you. You abandoned me too!"

"_Because you wouldn't talk to us, Rose_," Albus insisted. "How were we supposed to stay in touch with you when all you cared about was Scorpius? Did you ever think about the way you made me feel, other than the fact that you were with _Scorpius_? We were _best friends_ and then, suddenly, you were gone."

"Because I loved him," I said, feeling so redundant. How many times would I have to say it before it would sink into their thick skulls?

"But he's gone now, so we should try to move beyond this," Teddy insisted.

"BUT I STILL LOVE HIM!" I exclaimed.

The boys were silent for a moment. Then Teddy walked over to me and put his hand on my back. "I know, Rosie, I know."

"_Don't_ call me Rosie," I snarled, but I didn't remove his hand as I once again broke into tears.

"I'm not saying this is going to be easy, _Rose_, but you need our help now," Teddy soothed.

"Says who?" I sobbed.

"You don't have a job and the only people you have to talk to are your 9-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter," Albus said, his voice considerably softer than before.

I took a deep breath. "Maybe you're right," I said, before letting out another sob. I winced. Admitting to needing help… that wasn't one of my strong points. Albus realized this. I could tell by the way his eyebrows rose. _The know-it-all Rose Weasley admitting to needing my help?_

"We'll try," Teddy said.

I nodded. "Right. Try. But that doesn't mean that I'm coming over for Christmas dinner. I have a feeling not everyone's going to be so forgiving."

Teddy and I hugged. "Maybe one day," he whispered in my ear.

Teddy and I stood up and we looked to go back inside, but before I could take a step in that direction, I felt Albus' warm arms wrap around me. I squeezed him back. "I've missed you," he told me softly.

"You too," I said, feeling another round of tears coming on, but I held them back.

We walked slowly towards the church.

"So… Arabella?" Albus asked, chuckling softly.

"Oh, shut up," I said, punching him lightly.

"Seriously. Could you have picked a more Malfoy-ish name?" he asked.

I glared at him. "Well, her name is Arabella Malfoy."

Albus shuddered.

"Hey, you don't want to mess with me," I said. "Scorpius taught me the right way to do _Avada Kedavra_ and I've had tons of practice."

Both Albus and Teddy stared at me, scared looks in their eyes.

"Yeah, one night we were lying in bed, after we had sex of course, and we killed about a hundred baby owls," I said matter-of-factly.

I saw Teddy's hand twitch towards his wand. They both stared at me warily.

"I'm kidding," I laughed. "Merlin, you two are _so_ thick!"

It took them a minute, but then they both burst out laughing. They laughed like they'd never laughed before.

"This is why we've missed you, Rose," Albus said as he wiped the tears that had spilled out of his eyes because he was laughing so hard.

The three of us walked back into the church where my husband's dead body lay, but I felt better than I had felt since I'd heard he left me. Sure, it wasn't perfect. But like Teddy had said, we were trying.

Trying was all I could ask for at the moment.

**So here's what I was thinking. Instead of learning to get along with the Weasleys (or being friendly with them before Rose and Scorpius even started dating), Scorpius was never able to befriend any of the Weasley/Potters, other than Rose. In order to be with him, she dropped all contact with her family and friends at the end of her 7th year.**

**The Weasleys had a reason to hate Scorpius. He was a jerk. But so was Rose. And that's why they worked. They were both kind of mean and selfish, but when it came to each other, they learned how to put those hostile feelings about... most of the time.**

**Do you hate Rose in this story? Because I kind of do. But that's the point. She's selfish, she thinks only about how this affects her, and she is extremely stubborn. But that's the point.**

**IMPORTANT! I kind of love this idea, if I hadn't mentioned that... there is a slight, slight, slight chance (THIS IS NOT A PROMISE!) that one day in the far off future, I will write a full multi-chaptered story describing how Rose and Scorpius' relationship progressed during their 7th year at Hogwarts, probably up to or after this time. It might never happen, but if I find myself looking for something to write next summer... you never now. At this time, I am working on too many other projects to start this. **

**For people who are still waiting for my new and improved version of Defining Unforgivable, it is coming really, really soon. I promise!**

**Hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know what you think. I'll take compliments or criticism!**

**~writergal24**


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